Book of Hate 5.13d

Book of Hate is a 45-meter, 5.13d pitch (8b French, E8 7a British) in Elephant's Graveyard, left of Elephant Rock in Yosemite Valley. It follows a corner that steepens as it rises, mostly bolted but relying on small trad gear placed in the overhanging crux section near the top, which is why the site treats it as sitting between sport and trad rather than purely one or the other. The climbing is sustained, opposition-based stemming rather than pure crimping or pulling, and it is regarded as one of the valley's harder and more distinctive corner test pieces.

History

Randy Leavitt made the first ascent in 1999 and named the route after the demanding weight-training regimen he practiced in college. Beth Rodden made the first female ascent, and the route has since been repeated by some of the sport's strongest climbers, including Hazel Findley and Alex Honnold. Adam Ondra climbed it on October 30, 2018, sending on his second attempt of the day after coming close to an onsight in fading light that evening. Access to the crag is affected by the park's seasonal closures for peregrine falcon nesting, which typically run from March 1 through July 15, so most ascents and attempts cluster outside that window.

On film

Amity Warme climbs Book of Hate 5.13d (2024), from Scarpa, documents Warme's own ascent of the route. The film shows the full sequence of strenuous stemming up the corner and the small gear placements protecting the upper, more overhanging section, presenting the route much as it has been described by other climbers who have repeated it: a sustained test of tension and footwork rather than raw power. It also gives a sense of how the corner's angle changes through the pitch, from a relatively open lower section into the steeper, more pumpy stemming higher up where the smallest gear has to hold.